FLORIDA – Mother, son arrested for stealing from HOA in Polk

A Lakeland woman and her son were arrested Friday after an investigation revealed they stole more than $122,000 from the Cimarron Homeowners Association from 2004 through 2015, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office said. Martha Beard, 59, and her son, Matthew Beard, 32, were booked into the Polk County Jail and charged with one count each of grand theft and fraud. They remain on $30,000 bond ($15,000 bond for each charge). According to their affidavits, Martha Beard was appointed treasurer of the Cimarron HOA in 2003. She had sole custody of the HOA’s debit card and checks its bank account and was responsible for making payments to various businesses on behalf of the HOA. In 2015 she was dismissed as treasurer, after the other board members discovered a $27,000 deficit to the HOA lawn care provider, and responded to TD Bank and found there was less than $50.00 in the Cimarron HOA account, deputies said. The deficit was previously undiscovered because Martha had falsified documents showing payments to various businesses. The board members were alerted to the deficit by the lawn care provider and contacted the Polk County Sheriff’s Office. Read more: